If you're getting a cheese grater, definitely spring for the 12-core machine. The reason is that you can still upgrade the processors to a faster speed (there are several companies out there who do this conversion reasonably) if you find you don't quite have enough power. With the 12-core machine, you already have the right tray with the two-processor configuration. Taking a tray with only 1 processor all the way up to a two-processor configuration is a lot more expensive if you ever need to do that. I recently took my stock 8-core machine (2-2.4gHz processors) all the way up to a 12-core machine (2-3.46gHz) for less than $700. If I had only had a single processor tray (the 2.8gHz model, for example) the same upgrade would have been almost double the cost. My machine should be good for several more years now, and it is already 7 years old!

Did you take the lids off the new processors or leave them on?

__________________JackSee profile for system detailsiMac dead & retired as of 11/4/17QAPLA!